Shipping to military base address may seem complicated at first glance. But don’t worry, we are here to help you with that! Whether you need to send a care package to your man, wife, or friend. Or you are currently based at the US base, for example at Guam, and you are looking for solutions on how to get shipping to a military base from US stores like Amazon, eBay, Walmart, etc. We are going to explain all questions you may have including the price of the shipping, how does it work, and much more.
Table of Contents
• What Do APO, FPO, and DPO Abbreviations Mean?
· How Do The Military And Diplomatic Addresses Look Like?
• How Does The Shipping to A Military Base Work?
· Shipping With The USPS Directly
· Shipping With Planet Express Package Forwarding Service
• What Is The Price Of The Shipping To Military Base Address?
• Military Base FAQ
• Conclusion
What Do APO, FPO, and DPO Abbreviations Mean?
APO, FPO, and DPO are abbreviations for different kinds of military or diplomatic addresses (source).
- APO – Army Post Office is used in conjunction with Army or Air Force installations.
- FPO – Fleet Post Office is used in conjunction with Navy installations.
- DPO – Diplomatic Post Office is used for the U.S. Diplomatic locations.
How Do The Military And Diplomatic Addresses Look Like?
The APO, FPO, and DPO addresses are very similar and they differ very little.
John Doe
PSC 559 BOX 1234
APO AP, 96377-0054
John Doe
USCGC Hamilton
FPO AP, 96667
John Doe
Unit 8100, Box 1234
DPO AP, 96377-0054
Planet Express can ship to these addresses without any problem. Below, we explain the shipping with a package forwarder more in detail.
How Does The Shipping to A Military Base Work?
Shipping to APO/FPO/DPO addresses is possible with the USPS only. There are 2 main approaches you can take. You can either ship with the USPS directly, or use a package forwarder like Planet Express. We explain the pros and cons of both ways below.
Shipping With The USPS Directly
Pros:
If you want to send a care package, it is easier to go to your nearest post office and ship the package from there.
Cons:
Shopping from the US online stores may be time-consuming. You have to order goods to your house address. After that, somebody has to go to the post office and send the package to the APO/FPO/DPO address.
You can read more about APO/FPO/DPO shipping directly with USPS on their website.
Shipping With Planet Express Package Forwarding Service
Pros:
You can order from the online stores to our address and then forward packages to APO/FPO/DPO addresses.
You get slightly better rates for the USPS Priority Mail Military method (in our calculator it is called Domestic: USPS Priority).
Cons:
The delivery time from the USA to APO/FPO/DPO address may be slightly longer due to a need to deliver the package to our warehouse.
If you decide to ship with Planet Express, make sure you check the following pictures in order to set up your delivery address correctly.
What Is The Price Of The Shipping To Military Base Address?
Before we can dive into the price of the shipping, it is important to know what to fill into our postage calculator because if you want to ship to an FPO address, for example, you use the following details in the individual fields.
Country: United States
State: California
City: FPO
Zip Code: 96377-0054
In the table below, we calculated the prices of the shipping for 3 different sizes and weights of the packages.
| Shipping with | Shipping method | 10×7×5 inches, 2 lbs | 20×13×8 inches, 7 lbs | 35×20×12 inches, 25 lbs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Planet Express | Domestic: USPS Priority | $10.6 | $45.94 | $105.94 |
| USPS directly | Priority Mail Express Military | $35.55 | $86.15 | $260.10 |
| USPS directly | Priority Mail Military | $13.65 | $49.65 | $114.85 |
Feel free to calculate the price of the shipping for your package and your APO/FPO/DPO address with our postage calculator below.
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Military Base FAQ
The price of the shipping to military or diplomatic addresses is very similar to domestic shipping. With Planet Express, you can get slightly better rates than with the USPS directly. However, it has a few downsides too. Read more…
You can either ship to military bases directly with the USPS or a package forwarder like Planet Express.
If you are a military member based at a US base and you want to shop in the US online stores, it is better for you to use a package forwarder. Here is how…
APO – Army Post Office is used in conjunction with Army or Air Force installations.
FPO – Fleet Post Office is used in conjunction with Navy installations.
DPO – Diplomatic Post Office is used for the U.S. Diplomatic locations.
Read more…
Conclusion
We have explained to you what the APO/FPO/DPO abbreviations mean and where they are used. We also described how does the shipping to military and diplomatic addresses works and if it is better to ship there directly with the USPS or with a package forwarder like Planet Express. In the end, we did a price comparison of USPS and Planet Express shipping rates to the FPO military address.